5 Common Mistakes in Russian

1. Не. / n'e / or / n'i /?

Mistake:

I often hear students read "не" separately from the word and pronounce it as "nje" or "n'e". It's a mistake.

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Explanation:

The particle "не" is always unstressed and is always read together with the following word making one phonetic word.

Correct usage:

не чита́ю / n'ichitAju / \

не люблю́ / n'il'ubl'U / \

не он / n'iOn / \

не она́ / n'ianA /

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Exceptions:

\

не́ был / n'Ebɨl / \

не была́ / nibɨlA /* \

не́ было / n'Ebɨla /

не́ были / n'Ebɨli /

*не была́ " is not an exception, it follows the general rule.

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2. Unstressed "о".

Mistake:

молоко́ / molokO / \

под столо́м / potstolOm / \

дожди́ /dozhd'I /

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Explanation:

Vowels can be either stressed or unstressed. The unstressed vowels undergo the reduction effects. One of the most important quality reduction effects is called "А́канье": Unstressed letter "о" should be read as / а /.

Correct usage:

молоко́ / malakO / \

под столо́м / patstalOm /* \

дождь / dOsht' /

But : \

дожди́ / dazhd'I /

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*The preposition "под" (as the overwhelming majority of prepositions) gets connected to the following word and makes one phonetic word. Consequently (considering the fact that there can be only one stress in a word) "под" is unstressed and we apply "Аканье effect". And / д / becomes / т / because of the following unvoiced "c".

3. Потому́ что.

Mistake:

Потому́ что он не позвони́л мне, я забы́ла купи́ть о́вощи.

Explanation:

The conjunction "потому́ что" cannot begin the sentence.

Correct usage:

Я забы́ла купи́ть о́вощи, потому́ что он не позвони́л мне.\

Так как он не позвони́л мне, я забы́ла купи́ть о́вощи.

4. Вчера́, Все, Всё, Всегда́, Вто́рник, etc.

Mistake:

Вчера́ / vichirA / \

Все / vis'E /\

Всё / vis'O /\

Всегда́ / vsigdA / \

Вто́рник / vtOrnik /

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Explanation:

When we have a cluster of consonants, the following consonant influences the preceding. If the following consonant is unvoiced, it makes the preceding consonant unvoiced too. Consequently we should pronounce the letter "в" in the given words as / ф /.\

When students don't know this rule, they pronounce this letter as / v / or often with an additional aftersound / vi / which is wrong and confuses the meaning. For example, when you say вчера́ as / vichirA / it sounds like "вечера́".

Correct usage:

Вчера́ / fchirA /\

Все / fs'E /\

Всё / fs'O /\

Всегда́ / fsigdA / \

Вто́рник / ftOrnik /

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5. "Пробле́м" или "Пробле́ма"

The English expression "No problem!" is translated in Russian as "Нет пробле́м!"

Mistake:

У меня́ пробле́м с компью́тером.

Explanation:

The reason why students are often confused about this word is very simple. In the English expression "no problem", the word "problem" is in singular form, but in Russian - "нет проблем", it is the Genitive Case Plural form of the word "проблема", which is feminine.